MARVIN’S ROOMBy Scott McPherson
Directed by Anne Kauffman

Roundabout Theater Company’s American Airlines Theatre
227 West 42nd Street, New York City

Calling 212.719.1300, online at roundabouttheatre.org, and in person.
All single tickets are $47-$147.

NEW YORK CITY | More popular film stars will cross the footlights to join an anticipated Broadway debut. Janeane Garofalo will star as “Lee” in Roundabout Theatre Company’s MARVIN’S ROOM, which will constitute her Broadway debut. Lili Taylor will star as “Bessie,” and Celia Weston will star as “Ruth.”

MARVIN’S ROOM will begin preview performances on June 8, 2017 and opens officially on June 29, 2017. This is a limited engagement through August 27, 2017 at the American Airlines Theatre on Broadway (227 West 42nd Street).

MARVIN’S ROOM, is a wildly funny play about the laughter that can shine through life’s darkest moments. Estranged sisters Lee and Bessie have never seen eye to eye. Lee is a single mother who’s been busy raising her troubled teenage son, Hank. Bessie’s got her hands full with their elderly father and his soap-opera obsessed sister.

When Bessie is diagnosed with leukemia, the two women reunite for the first time in 18 years. Are Lee’s good intentions and wig-styling skills enough to make up for her long absence? Can Bessie help Hank finally feel at home somewhere… or at least keep him from burning her house down? Can these almost-strangers become a family in time to make plans, make amends, and maybe make a trip to Disney World? Exploring an unsentimental reality with hope, compassion and a dose of wonderfully absurd humor, Marvin’s Room is a life-affirming reminder of the gift we give ourselves when we love unconditionally.

A two-time Emmy Award nominee, Janeane Garofalo may have to take theatrical pointers from both Lili Taylor (“American Crime”), who made her Broadway debut as “Irina” in THREE SISTERS — and Tony Award nominee Celia Weston (THE LAST NIGHT OF BALLYHOO) following her turn as “Mrs. Bassett” in SUMMER AND SMOKE (another Roundabout revival).

The comic play about death — which ran Off Broadway in 1991 and was adapted into the 1996 film starring Meryl Streep, Diane Keaton and Leonardo DiCaprio — will begin previews at the American Airlines Theatre on June 8, 2017, before its June 29 opening. The limited engagement, presented by Roundabout Theatre Company, runs through Aug. 27.

MARVIN’S ROOM, which was written by Scott McPherson and debuted at Playwrights Horizons, follows two estranged sisters who reunite after 18 years when one is diagnosed with leukemia. Anne Kauffman will helm the new staging, making her Broadway debut. Casting has not yet been announced

The Public Theater’s creative team will also include Laura Jellinek (Sets), Jessica Pabst (Costumes), Japhy Weideman (Lights) and Daniel Kluger (Original Music & Sound).

ABOUT SCOTT McPHERSON (Playwright) — Scott McPherson, born in Columbus, Ohio, was an actor and playwright who lived and worked in Chicago. MARVIN’S ROOM was Scott’s second and final full-length play and has been performed throughout the United States and around the world, including Australia, Canada, Slovakia, Turkey, Israel, Hungary, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Japan, Finland, Sweden and Mexico. It premiered at the Goodman Theatre Studio in February 1990 and went on to the Hartford Stage, Playwrights Horizons and Minetta Lane in New York, London’s West End and the Tiffany Theatre in Los Angeles.

For his work on MARVIN’S ROOM, Scott received the 1990 Joseph Jefferson Award for Best New Play, the 1991 Whiting Writer’s Award and, posthumously, the 1992 George Oppenheimer Award, 1993 Robby Award and the 1994 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award. Scott also wrote television shows for the Fox Television Network, WGN-TV and NBC. He wrote the film adaptation of Marvin’s Room, a Miramax release, produced by Scott Rudin and starring Robert DeNiro, Meryl Streep, Diane Keaton, Leonardo DiCaprio, Gwen Verdon and Hume Cronyn. Scott died of AIDS on November 7, 1992.

Roundabout Theatre Company presents a variety of plays, musicals, and new works on its five stages, each of which is specifically designed to enhance the needs of Roundabout’s mission. Off-Broadway, the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre, which houses the Laura Pels Theatre and Black Box Theatre, with its simple sophisticated design, is perfectly suited to showcasing new plays. The grandeur of its Broadway home on 42nd Street, American Airlines Theatre, sets the ideal stage for the classics. Roundabout’s Studio 54 provides an exciting and intimate Broadway venue for its musical and special event productions. The Stephen Sondheim Theatre offers a state of the art LEED certified Broadway theatre in which to stage major large-scale musical revivals. Together these distinctive homes serve to enhance Roundabout’s work on each of its stages.